Steve Watson has insisted that a mid-table finish for Birmingham City this season would represent a decent return.

All circumstances considered, Blues campaign has to be viewed in a realistic light, said the coach.

However, Watson nevertheless stressed that it would not befit the stature of the club and improvement was needed in the future.

That’s something Lee Clark and his staff are determined to engineer, said the former Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion defender/midfielder.

“Asking me as a coach, I think however things pan out - and I don’t want to pre-empt anything - if we can finish mid-table, with what I have seen goes on behind the scenes, I would consider it a decent season,” Watson stated.

“Is that good enough for Birmingham City Football Club? No, of course it’s not. Absolutely not.

“None of us are kidding ourselves and thinking it would be.

“But I am looking at what we have had to deal with, and what we see on a daily basis, the financial situation and other factors like losing Stephen Carr and David Murphy, two of the best players in the division, for pretty much the whole of the season, and now Marlon King, then it has been tough.”

Blues, currently 14th and seven points clear of the Championship relegation zone, are at Middlesbrough tomorrow.

Watson, who coaches the first team and the development squad, along with Richard Beale, said Clark and the management accepted the stick that came their way, following the inability to repeat what happened last season.

“Football is what it is. It is a fickle game.

“We have come off the back of a season where the lads have done great and got to the play-offs.

“Anything less than what last season was would maybe deemed a failure.

“If I sit back - and I am as probably as level-headed as you can get as a person and football person - and I look at it, I think we have let ourselves down on many occasions.

“But that’s never been through lack of preparation, effort. It has just been silly mistakes.

“It’s easy to say to people that once the players are on the pitch, there’s nothing you can do, because that sounds like a cop out. But it is literally that simple.

“You can prepare and work all week but if somebody tries to do an offside or something else that is wrong, makes a bad error, things can go out of the window.

“There have been times where we have let ourselves down massively.

“Barnsley will stick in my mind probably for the rest of my life as one of the lowest points of my career, not just a player but as a coach as well.

“But aside from that we have done well at other times and we have found ourselves almost in the top half of the league.

“Is that OK for Birmingham City Football Club? Again, it’s not. But I think it’s the best we can expect at the minute.

“And I think everybody involved in the club, the supporters, have got to understand that.

“We are not under-achieving with the best team in the league.

“Can we beat anybody on our day? Yes we can. We have got some great technicians, some really good lads.

“But if you look at the size of the Cardiff squad, the size of the Leicester squad, Watford’s - Udinese B team - we are not at that level at the minute.

“We are fully clear on where we need to be, going forward. We know what we have got to do. And hopefully we will get a chance to do that because the determination is there, from Lee and the rest of the staff.”